97 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
97 lines
5.1 KiB
Markdown
# Balancing History
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Chronological record of the balancing work: what was decided, what was
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found, what changed. Current values live in `derived.md`; this file
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explains how they got there.
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## 2026-07-02/03 — rules and structural decisions
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- Rules document written (now `rules.md`): ratio curve, shortcut
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recipes, refactorability, cost archetypes, threat model, growth curve.
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- Scrap derived from threat (`scrap_per_threat`), replacing authored
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per-ship scrap drops; scrap threat became the constant
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`1/scrap_per_threat`, removing the old min-scrap_drop derivation and
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its circularity.
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- Duplicate schematic drops removed (no level-ups); ship/module levels
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removed entirely — all time scaling lives in the threat rate, push
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scaling stays on stations. Mk2 upgrade recipes noted as the future
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per-item progression.
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- Growth-curve rules added: escalating expansion costs, designed
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doubling time, growth limited by economy not waiting; resource
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deposits designed (deposit-gated mid resource in expansion territory).
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- Production tree v2 decided: iron/copper everywhere (M-type asteroid),
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quartz in geodes (mid), voidsteel battle-forged from scrap (late);
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titanium dropped; lasers renamed to railguns, lasers reserved as a
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future weapon type.
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## 2026-07-03 — targets, tree, numbers
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- Balancing targets fixed: ≤2 h run, phases 1–5/6–14/15+, factory curve
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25/60/120/150, threat ladder, 25-ship swarm, block roots.
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- Tree structure drafted and numbers computed (recursive threat
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calculator); ratio curve realized; fitted ships within 96–124% of the
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strawman ladder (small end hot from fixed chain overhead — ladder
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later adopted the achieved values).
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- **Rule bugs found by the numbers work:** the scrap→ingot smelter
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recipe would inflate basic materials via the max rule (fixed:
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scrap-consuming recipes are threat fallback only); recipe output
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amounts were ignored (fixed: per-unit division); items downstream of
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reprocessing-only items never resolved (fixed: fixpoint resolution);
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a shortcut recipe resolving earlier than the base path silently
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underpriced items (fixed: commit only when all eligible recipes are
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computable). All four fixed in `ThreatCostCalculator` with tests, and
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implemented in `tools/threat_report.py`.
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- v2 tree written into the configs; `default_modules` loadouts
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geometry-validated (the numbers-pass loadouts for battlecruiser and
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dreadnought were geometrically impossible — L-modifiers don't fit
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beside full gun complements; corrected loadouts landed closer to the
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ladder).
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## 2026-07-04 — combat stats, arena rounds 1–5
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Initial stats derived from the anchors (weapon DPS ≈0.6/threat flat,
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hull 15 HP/threat, armor 20/threat, repair 2 HP/s/threat, station
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range 200).
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- **Round 1:** concentrated fleets won all equal-threat cross-tier
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matchups flawlessly; glass beat armored; repair escort flawless; two
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stations shrugged off a 3× swarm. Changes: concentration tax on m/l
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gun damage (railgun_m 17→14, railgun_l 70→52), armor 640→1000,
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repair 25→12, station range 200→120. (Team-1 "bias" in mirrors later
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shown to be noise.)
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- **Round 2 (EHP-margin logging added):** battleship +33% while
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dreadnought −37% (stabilizer range + opposing armor); glass still
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+11%. Changes: stabilizer range ×1.5→×1.3; per-hull trims introduced
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(BC 2700→2500, BS 7500→7000, DN/CV 15500→19000).
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- **Round 3 (narrow lanes — geometry fixed into the fixture):**
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DN closed to −11%, BS +22%, swarm flipped to +14% over cruisers,
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glass +12% third time. Changes: armor 1000→1200, BC 2500→2000,
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BS 7000→6300, DN/CV 19000→22500.
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- **Round 4:** glass-vs-armored resolved (+3% armored); noise floor
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established (~±10%/run: BS ignored a −10% EHP cut; repair drifted
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14→24% untouched). Convergence policy adopted: two-round signals only,
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±20% converged. Changes: BC 2000→2200, DN/CV 22500→24000; BS +23%
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accepted as doctrine texture (mechanical range edge vs. pure small
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fleets).
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- **Round 5 (durations logged; end-condition bug fixed upstream):**
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TTK anchor validated (mirrors 23/71/95 s; DN-vs-swarm 214 s outlier
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accepted); dreadnought +3%, everything else inside band. Final
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changes: BC 2200→2400, repair 12→9 (persistent +24% escort margin).
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**Combat pass declared converged.**
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## 2026-07-05/06 — pacing pass
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- Unlock ladder set (starting set drone/frigate/railgun_s/salvager;
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quartz gate at level 2; capitals at 8–9 with `unlock_requires`
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chains); threat rate `2*x + 0.15*x*x`; starting blocks 1000→200;
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expansion 400 flat pending the cost formula; artifacts 3→5.
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- **Bug found:** the building_block recipe was silently locked at game
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start (building blocks appear in no schematic's materials, so implicit
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unlocking could never reach the recipe) — fixed with an explicit
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`unlock_at_station_level = -1`.
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- Expansion cost formula implemented and set (`300 + 50*x + 10*x*x`):
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quadratic, so costs outrun the roughly linear block income gradually
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— ~1 expansion per cycle mid-game, 2–3 cycles apart late.
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- **First full balancing round complete.** Next: full-game playtests
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against the run-shape targets.
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